Nonu already on the job

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The new Member of Parliament for Safata East, Nonu Lose Niumata, is honoured by the trust placed in him by his constituency to represent them in Parliament.

But he knows the job is not a holiday in the park.

And already, the former C.E.O of the Accident Compensation Corporation is eyeing opportunities for his constituents, especially in terms of employment.

One scheme he believes will be a tremendous help is the regional seasonal employment scheme in Australia and New Zealand.

“The market here is limited and what I would like to see happen is for more and increased opportunities for our people to be employed overseas like in the R.S.E scheme and the Australian work market,” said Nonu.

“Allied to these initiatives is the need for a labour mobility policy so that our people can be gainfully employed overseas in a disciplined and systematic regime.

“Access to overseas markets for our commodities on a competitive basis will also be something that needs to be expanded.”

Nonu said the scheme is one of that employs a lot of semi and low-level skilled workers from the Pacific including Samoa.

“This began around 2005 to 2006 but mostly in the horticulture industry,” recalled Nonu.

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“(From) there it had moved if not implementation (has) already extend the Scheme to include other areas like: meat industry, carpentry and construction, fishing etc.”

Nonu explained that the Australian Scheme on the other hand started much later and formally called the Pacific Seasonal Workers Programme.

“There are very visible and very tangible evidence attesting to the success of R.S.E from those that were involved in the scheme.

“It can be seen with cars, houses, church buildings, pastors residences and businesses.”

Nonu highlighted the importance of increasing numbers of Samoan workers in N.Z and Australia under the scheme and implemented on a managed manner.

“It ensures that not all able bodied workers are away all the time,” he said.

Being honoured to be the representative of the constituency, Nonu is grateful for the faith entrusted in him.

“I will do my best I can to fulfill my duty as representative,” he said.

“I had been thinking about running for Parliament in the past but in the last two general elections there had been two candidates from my village that contested those elections and I deferred to them.”

According to Nonu after he retired from A.C.C, a job that he enjoyed, he began to take strong interest in this year’s General Election and it provided the perfect opportunity for him.

From the villages of Fusi and Tafitoala Safata, Nonu being a former C.E.O he is not unfamiliar with Parliament.

He acknowledged his election committee who had worked hard in his preparations to win the seat. Nonu worked for 27 years with A.C.C and 20 years as the C.E.O.